We finally found a house after five months in South Carolina. Phil's parents were so gracious to allow us to live with them for almost five months. We had to wait until we found jobs to get a house. It all came together with the span of a few weeks. As much as we enjoyed living with Phil's parents, we are all so glad to be in our own house.
Rachel got to go away for a weekend to celebrate a friend's 40th birthday. It was so relaxing and fun to eat at good places (sans kids) and shop at sweet stores in the little town where the old house is. It was so life giving to be with friends.
Rachel's job came about due to her applying for another job in the local school district. Someone in HR saw that she was a sign language interpreter and knew they had a position at another school. Rachel had applied to work at a part time job with adult ed. This other position would be a full time position interpreting for some kids that are deaf at an elementary school.
It is an amazing story of how God provided a job for Phil. It came about because of a conversation Rachel had with the kids' pediatrician. She was asking questions about our family and jobs (Phil's mom used to work at their office, so the doctor knew about our family being overseas.) and said she had a connection to a new charter school in town that was about to post a position for a job that Phil would be perfect for. After a few weeks, Phil had an interview and was offered the position as Director of Operations at this school. We were so thrilled with his new job. Unfortunately, Phil had a swollen eye on his first day of work. :)
It is so nice to have a place to get away and relax in the mountains. We are so thankful we were able to buy the old family home. We are also thankful we get to spend time with Phil's aunt and uncle when we go. We also love going to the library whenever we are there for the weekend. Some friends from Nashville were supposed to join us, but because we had been exposed to Covid, they weren't able to come. We did have some other friends (from our time overseas) that came instead. It was John's good buddy, Sam, and his family. We were so thankful for the time we had with them.
I think this is the first year (as adults) we have celebrated our birthdays with Phil's family. The year Phil turned 30, they came for a surprise birthday party, but we haven't celebrated with them since. It was so fun to be able to celebrate all together.
